None of the 45 companies of a group army of the Shenyang Military Area Command that participated in night drills was reported as outstanding. This was really embarrassing. One of the elite companies had even performed very well in international reconnaissance competitions. Though the company performed seemingly well from starting attacks to encamping and cooking in field in dark and rainy night, the assessment team believed that the company shoud have asked its headquarters for assistance in counter electronic interference when it encountered electronic interference. However, the unit resorted to foolhardiness only, thus causing too many casualties. That' s why it couldn't be rated as an outstanding performance.

　　Comrade Bao, chief of staff of the group army, told reporters that his troops had to meet the requirements of actual combat and the drills were conducted to find hidden problems to hone the sense of modern war of the troops and keep its hard combating style. The aim was to increase the ability of his troops to win high-tech wars in the future, he added.

　　Grassroots officers and men were convinced to accept the result of this "overdone" drill and started to put unprecedented efforts in drilling. Since then, many favorable changes have happened across the group army. For example, "joint conferences" have been held between regiments to study how to bring out potential powers of the troops and the companies of the group army have been engaging in rival confrontation drills to sharpen their powers.

　　By Ding Haiming and Han Guoxian

　　(November 17, PLA Daily)